Been drinking some really tasty Rhone wines recently thanks to the generosity of a friend. A buddy in town owns a wine shop and I've recently been gifting him some decent cigars as he's just starting his journey down that path. As a thank you for everything I've given him he sent over a few bottles of his favorite northern and southern Rhone's.

He sent a bottle of La Vielile Ferme Cotes Ventoux 2006, a bottle of Chateau L'Ermitage Costieres 2007, M.Chapoutier Rhone Belleruche 2005 and a bottle of Pierre Amadieu Rhone Roulpierre.

All great tasting wines at what he says is decent prices. Its been really getting me excited about this region. Anybody have any good experiences with Rhone wines lately?
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I had a tremendous 2003 McManus Viognier and a Laurent Tardieu Les Bec Fins Cote du Rhone (2002) which was dynamite.
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Pretty been my favorite region for a long time. The other day I had a fantastic Cotes de Rhone Village called Domaine Amido 2006. It was really big and lush with lots of red fruit and a really smooth finish. I had actually gone in looking for some Spanish and Italian wines which has been what I have been trying to learn more about lately. The sales person mentioned this Rhone wine and I couldn't resist. I have a number of bottles from Ventoux, Gigondas, Chateauneuf du Pape, Vaqueyras, among others tucked away. A lot of the lesser known areas can be good values. Enjoy a great region.
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Big Rhone drinker over here. Had a '96 CdP last night! That one was hitting on all the bases! Also had a '78 Taylor Crusted Port.

Love Cote Rotie, Gigondas, and St. Joseph. A local B&M had 60% off Rhones including many heavy hitters.
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Laurent Tardieu is a good brand.
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Big Rhone drinker myself, top end as well as value. This weekend drank an 06 Charvin CdR and a 06 Yann Chave Crozes Hermitage Le Rouvre. With about 15 open expensive American wines on the table Sat night, the Yann Chave was still by far my wine of the night. A very fine Crozes.


~Vitis
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Croze Hermitage is probably my favorite Rhone style. Well Hermitage ain't bad either but usually a little rich for my wallet. I had a fantastic CH about a decade ago Domaine des Entrefaux 1997 That one year they caught lightning in a bottle the best cost per value bottle I have ever had and one of the best wines I have ever had at just over 12$ a bottle. Went through 3-4 cases. It had nuance, it changed on every sip and had a three minute finish that was just ridiculous. Amazing bottle. Wish I would have saved a few bottles. The tragedy of vintage wines and limited release/vintage cigars when they are gone they are gone.
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Yup, CH can be pretty good. Your note reminded me to check in on a few older bottlings im sitting on. I have a few each 94 95 96 Paul Jaboulet Aine, CH Domaine de Thalabert which are probably as good as they'r gonna get. Gotta love those wines burried in the back of the cellar. Fondly remembering the day of $15 Crozes :-)

~Vitis
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All the major critics are big on Chateauneuf du Pape right now. Ive noticed increases on bottles from about 8 months ago.

Ive been trying to drink more Cote' Rotie and Cotes Du Rhone lately. I'm having trouble finding some decent midlevel Cornas- any suggestions?
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CdP went up a lot with the release of the 06'. Dollar/Euro had a big effect on this just as the wines were getting ready to be released. Some of the ones I buy like the Clos St Jean went up over $20 a bottle. Ouch!

For mid tier Cornas I like Eric y Joel Durand which you can probably find for around $40 to $50. It's not Clape but its pretty good. I believe Kermit Lynch is the importer but am not sure.

~Vitis
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Too bad you weren't in Boston last month. The Rhone sale one store had was a giveaway. Bottles marked at $120 were going for $65.00. Late summer/early fall all Distributors sell off their excess inventory and the big B&M's have a field day selling them. There's a 50 person line to get in on the first day of their sale.

They still have a few, and ton's of 1st cru Burgundy!
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Now that's something to cheer about. We're still waiting on most of the 06' Gran Crus out here but have been pleasantly surprised on how fine the Premiers have been. With all the 05 hype (although justified IMHO) there are some finds in 06' that distributers (including me) are having a hard time moving.

Cheers brothers
~Vitis
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Are you a distributor? PM me if you are.
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Picked up soem CdP last night in the bin ends!

2001 CdP "Pontifical" for $13.00 a bottle. It's an OK CdP, that is fully mature already. More fruit driven than most. I'd give 86 points, but to drink mature CdP at $13 is a no brainer.

Also picked up 2000 Medoc "Deux de Moulins" for $14; haven't tried it yet, but should be drinking perfect right now. The average Bordeaux stuff from 2000 should be considered open game right now. I'd still hold off on the 1st-2nd growths if possible.
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hard to pass up $13 CdP at any level. As for the big growths you're right, they have a while to go. A few weeks ago i tasted through all the top 1995's (firsts, seconds + big guns from Pomerol and St Emillion) and many of them were either shut down still or showing very little until hours later and some the next day. Sleep is wines friend. I love that comparison between vino and habanos.

PM sent Moses

~Vitis
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thanks for rubbing it in. :-)
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